Property catastrophe reinsurance rates fell by 20% to 25% or more for the best performing accounts in North America at the July 1 renewals, with similar trends seen across other regions, as sellers exhibited greater flexibility on price and notably structures, reports Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broker.
Gallagher Re’s July 2026 First View renewal report examines a renewal period which saw conditions further shift in favour of buyers, with cedents achieving risk-adjusted rate reductions across many classes and geographies.
While the rate softening witnessed at both the January and April 2026 renewals persisted, Gallagher Re highlights a “renewed focus on more creative and efficient risk transfer solutions” at the mid-year. The report explains how buyers were able to reshape their risk transfer programmes and improve long-term portfolio resilience, as reinsurers were more flexible.
The result, according to Gallagher Re, is a return to more innovative approaches such as multi-line, multi-year and aggregate structures, which are now reportedly available at more attractive price points.
Gallagher Re’s analysis puts 2025 dedicated reinsurance capital at $648 billion, an increase of 11% on the prior year. However, premium growth remained muted at just over 1%, which widens the supply / demand imbalance, leading to greater competition in the market.
At the same time, reinsurers continue to produce strong returns, with Gallagher Re estimating ROEs of 14% to 15% for 2026, after a near 19% return in 2025. This supports a sustained willingness among reinsurers to deploy capacity, which is enabling cedents to implement more bespoke solutions to manage earnings volatility and optimise capital efficiency, according to Gallagher Re.
“Property renewals provided the clearest evidence of this, with programs attracting significant excess capacity and reinsurers competing on both price and terms,” says the firm.
The reinsurance broker puts natural catastrophe losses in the first half of this year, as of June 15th, at $38 billion, so below the 10-year average. This means reinsurers enter H2 2026 with healthy catastrophe budgets, and continued capacity to deploy.
The report also highlights the continued expansion of the alternative reinsurance capital space, with non-life insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital hitting $135 billion, as catastrophe bond issuance totalled $15.6 billion by mid-June, with the market on-track for yet another record year of issuance after the levels seen in 2025.
In casualty reinsurance, outcomes were more stable at the mid-year renewals, reports Gallagher Re, citing continued caution around loss trends, particularly in the US, but with increased adaptability for well-performing portfolios.
Across specialty lines, the report highlights still abundant capacity, but notes that recent loss activity in areas such as aviation and cyber is driving closer scrutiny of performance.
Tom Wakefield, Global CEO of Gallagher Re, said: “The data shows a market defined by strong capital, healthy returns and increasing competition, all of which are improving outcomes for clients.
“Importantly, this is not only about price. The same forces are enabling clients to access more tailored and efficient reinsurance solutions, often at price points that would not have been achievable in recent years.
“The focus now is on how effectively clients use these conditions to optimize their programs and build more resilient portfolios for the future.”
